The National tribune., 1887-09-15
PRIVATE DALZELL.
He Gives His Experiences With Reunions, and Sug-
gests New Departure.


again rolled around. want to submit a few
questions which, if followed, will save deal of
| trouble. Early after the war / was young and
| had considerable money, aud embarked III the
| Reunion business extensively, rs you all know.
had the honor, on my own responsibility and
at my own expense. to call the first National
! Reunion. 1t was held here, and Gen. Sherman
| presided. It was a brilliant success, attracted
soldiers from all the States North and was the
original aud model of all Reunions since held,
except the stated Army Society ReaniOns, CON-
| posed only of officers. against which mine was
not misunderstood then nor since to be an earn-
est, emphatic protest Others of a like character
followed here. but before many years they rem
derud me pennileSs That is what | am getting
ut in this letter. 1t had no financial basis. The
ways and means were left 10 chance aud charity
equally uncertain. was always left to hold
| the boys,-in other words, in the lurch,-and
had the bills to foot out Of my pocket, until
my purse ran dry. In my enthusiasm never
| thought of that until it was too late. l didn't
care if il showed oats, If / could get up a big
Reunion, and this / did ut my cost until 1877,
when the Reunion was moved to Marietta, held
there init! a lot of other good fellows got
swamped; thence to Cambridge, where after 1T
| flattened out a few other royal old comrades
although all these years it was the only Ma
| tional Soldiers Reunion recognized by the
/ unanimous vote of Congress in the donation of
| cannon, ammunition, tents, etc, annually all
| these years, and paIronized personally by the
President and Cabinet twice-it went down to
find its apotheoSis in a thousand smaller, minia-
| ture Reunions in all parts of the United States,
| for the rebels copied it too. Now what of all
| that?
1t is "an over true story" too often repeated
| by myself and now recalled only that il may
furnish the needed warning and instruction to
the too generous comrades all over the North,
/ xyh IN Rauninn yvin haya
their fingers pinched financially as l had and
as others as good as have often had. warn
| all such committees now to listen to me.
Ii set me thinking OH the ways and means of
| providing money to defray expenses. Years ago |
hit on plan that / have tried successfully in
| concert with as many committees and it works
| like charm. 1t must be remembered first of all
that the boys generally are poor as Christ. They
cannot foot the Reunion bills running from a
minimum of $500, the least very small Reunion
| of 1000 or 5000 can be held for-on up to
$4,000 for such n Reunion rs was held at Pitts
burg in 1572, or at indianapolis IN 1876. L
knew one band that got s., 500 The committees
are usually poor men and soldiers, and unless
some plan is adopted long before the Reunion,
they pay the bills out of their own pockets.
1t often produces heartburnings, ordinations
and recriminations, aud demOralizes GAR.
Posts and plays the devil generally.
My plan avoids all this. Itpays all expenses,
and it costs no soldier a dollar! 1t raises
plenty of money, and leaves everybody feeling
good and ready for a bigger Reunion the next
year, but it is business, and business and the
| flag 90 together first rate. The appropriation
and the flag march hand in hand in the prog
ress of patriotism, as in the running of the
Government You can't run anything without
| money, not even a camp-meeting or a saw-mill.
| Why this dislike OF naming money in connec-
tion with Reunions? / know some good old
boys are so nice they never like to hear it named;
and these are the chaps who never pay cent,
either. They are too sentimental. But look
| il square in the teeth like business men, before
you 90 into a Reunion. The expenses must be
met. In the enthusiasm of the occasion bills
will be made, and after the thing is over comes
payday. Is not Reunion more important a
thousandfold than a baseball game, a camp
mecting,.a boxing match, a horse-race, fair, OF
a circus? Yet all these charge gate fees, and
nobody complains, and the management don't
care il they do, so they pay.
Now, after this rather long preface, | am
ready to state my plan, which is brief and sim
pie and honest. When it is determined to hold
Reunion, after the announcement in the pa.
pers and in the posters, let the committee sim
ply determine how much money will be needed
10 defray all necessary expenses, and provide
! the means to meet them. First of all comes
the guarantee fund, or subscription on paper
lOE a Sum bC W All Dlllo, CASt
of accident, failure of crowd, or bad weather
1 This should be ample, and signed only by re.
sponsible business men whose paper would gC
in bank. The payment of this subscription is
conditioned only upon the failure of all other
funds. and not once in 10 will cent of it be
needed. This done, arrange to hold the Re-
union in park or field or some inclosure, and
charge gate fees, and have not a single dead
bead-not one. State pointedly on the bills
| that thiS will ha HnuR kayar NJ
the hat" Bone buttons and pewter nickel'
wont pay for ammunition and music! Charge
ico-crcam, lemonade and other stands from );
TO 800 each. and never allow drop of liquor
on the ground. IknOw Of nothing that grieve
me more than to see comrade drunk.
grieve much less to see him dead in honor, il
his last suit of blue!
! What else? That's all. The story is short
. 1t is q plan that forced itself upon me after
long and bitter experience, and l hope th
comrades will all try it and See how IL works
By adopting this plan, Noble Post, 49l, GA. X
here at Caldwell, o., two years ago cleare'
nearly 500, and this our Post has now in bank
, BY this plan Moseley Post, at Dexter City
seven miles from here, last 4th OF July had
, surplus of over 800. which they have also il
! bank for their relief fund. These Reunion
! cost the boys nothing, except the 10 cents a
the gate. Was that not better than gOinj
, around after the Reunion begging money {
pay expenses, getting angry, swearing, an,
even fighting, and doing all the disagreeabl
, things that you and have seen done after al
unsuccessful Reunion? And the beauty of m,
plan is, that by its careful operation Reunion
, can be held annually in every County, and S
all the soldiers and people every year can at
tend Reunion, which believe sOemnly is
public duty. In no other way can this be done
PRIVATE DALZELL, Caldwell, D.